I had many more images of crossbowmen than I posted in my blog. I tried to pick ones that were representative of the whole and especially those with stirrups and those related to zodiacs/calenders, otherwise the blog posts become too long.
What I did notice, however, as I was gathering them, was that the VMS crossbowman's clothing leaned more toward crossbow tournament dress and somewhat more towards hunting dress and was generally different from images of archers dressed for warfare.
We should also keep in mind that although the southern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire were receding at the time the VMS was created, the germanic areas of Germany and Lombardy included three coastlines in the 14th century, so maritime use in no way rules out any of the larger European nations of the time. Personally, I don't think the drawing is accurate or detailed enough to definitively ID it as a specific subset of crossbow, maritime or otherwise.
What I did notice, however, as I was gathering them, was that the VMS crossbowman's clothing leaned more toward crossbow tournament dress and somewhat more towards hunting dress and was generally different from images of archers dressed for warfare.
We should also keep in mind that although the southern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire were receding at the time the VMS was created, the germanic areas of Germany and Lombardy included three coastlines in the 14th century, so maritime use in no way rules out any of the larger European nations of the time. Personally, I don't think the drawing is accurate or detailed enough to definitively ID it as a specific subset of crossbow, maritime or otherwise.
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